Mini Challenge Kits
Make curriculum-connected real-world problem solving a seamless, easy, and core part of your 2024 – 2025 classroom with Mini Challenge Kits.
Young people face unprecedented challenges. It’s no wonder anxiety and depression are on the rise. But in a world filled with uncertainty, one thing is clear: young people are capable of remarkable things when supported with the right tools and opportunities. Research shows that immersing students in real-world problem solving fosters agency. This positively impacts student mental health and well-being. Make your classrooms and schools the place where students get to practice and prove to themselves that they are capable of remarkable things.
The Pro-Pro works. Challenge Kits work. Now we’re making it easy to bring bite-sized real-world problem solving into your classroom with Mini Challenge Kits.
Mini Challenge Kits are curriculum-connected for grades 5 – 8, hands-on real-world problems situated in classroom, school and community contexts for students to work through. They are short (3-ish hours or less) and give classrooms opportunities throughout the year to build on the mindsets and skills necessary for students to be engaged, know that they matter, and be accomplished.
Your package of 3 Kits includes:
- For the Classroom: How might we design our classroom culture?
- For the School: How might we make Earth Day meaningful to our school community?
- For the Community: How might we help the Ontario SPCA and Humane Society connect seniors to animals?
Mini Challenge Kits are for educators who are familiar with the Real-World Problem Solving Journey or Integrative Thinking through PD with I-Think and/or using the Challenge Kit. If you are new to us, come learn at the Summer Institute!
Fee for 3 Mini Challenge Kits: $199 with a 25% discount if purchased before June 15th, 2024. You can purchase a physical copy of the Facilitator Notebook and Classroom Poster for $99.
Structure & Support
Unlike I-Think’s traditional Challenge Kit experience, Mini Kits are an asynchronous experience for classrooms to leverage when the time is right for them. Need a tour and support in figuring out what it means to bring a Mini Challenge Kit to your students? You can join an optional Orientation on Friday, August 23rd, 8:30am – 10am, virtual. Everyone will be sent the Mini Challenge Kits that morning.
Mini Challenge Kits Include:
Digital Facilitator Notebook
Customizable Slides
Materials for empathy building experiences
Inspiration for community-connected experiences
Framed problem with questions
Hear from Students
“We used our critical thinking skills a lot more in this experience. Normally when you’re doing critical thinking skills in school, you’re using them for inquiry projects where it feels like you’re researching someone else’s thinking, but with I-Think you’re looking into your own thinking.”
– Grade 8 Student, Toronto DSB
“It is important to do this work because students are experiencing this first hand – rather than getting what the teachers think, find out what students think – they are going through it right now.”
– Grade 10 Student, Hamilton-Wentworth DSB
“We get to create something that will make things better for others.”
